Forwarding E-mail from a wireless device

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to sending electronic mail (e-mail) and in particular to forwarding of electronic e-mail from a wireless device.

BACKGROUND

On a wireless device, it is typical that the device receives only small portions of e-mail messages directed to a recipient, starting from the beginning, as needed to conserver bandwidth. Additional portions of the e-mail message are delivered to the user on an as needed basis. For example, as the user scrolls down on a received email message, the device can fetch from a mail server (e.g., by way of an auto-more feature) text as needed. By only providing portions of the e-mail messages network and device resources are conserved. For example RFC 4550 entitled Internet Email to Support Diverse Service Environments (Lemonade) Profile defines extensions that allows mobile devices that are constrained in memory, bandwidth, processing power to efficiently use Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) and Mail Submission protocols to access and submit mail. This includes the ability to forward received mail without needing to download and upload the mail, to optimize submission and conserve resources. Push-email based systems may only send parts or portions of an e-mail message to the device as required, for example only e-mail header information may be sent to the device until the user opens the message at which time the body or portions of the body may be downloaded for viewing based upon device resources or as the user scrolls through the e-mail.

In scenarios where an e-mail message is forwarded, or replied to with the addition of recipients, the user may not be aware of all the content in the email if it has not been downloaded to the device or viewed by the user, resulting in potentially sensitive information in the text of the e-mail being inadvertently sent to other recipients.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that prevent sending unread text of e-mail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings, in which:

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> shows a representation of sending e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> shows a representation of sending encrypted e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> shows a representation of sending encrypted e-mail in a forward or reply message when attachments are associated with the e-mail;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> shows a method sending e-mail in a forward or reply message;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref> shows a method of sending e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> shows a method at a server of sending e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> shows a method at a server of sending e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device where the server determines the portion of the e-mail message to be sent;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref> shows a representation of a confirmation screen when sending an e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref> shows a schematic representation of a wireless device; and

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref> show a schematic representation of a wireless server.

It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a method of sending an e-mail message from a wireless device, the method comprising receiving a request at a server to forward the e-mail message to one or more recipients and a message identifier of an original e-mail message, the e-mail message having been received at the wireless device in one or more portions; determining a portion indicator for the e-mail message associated with the request; retrieving one or more portions of the original e-mail message determined by the portion indicator, of the original e-mail message identified by the message identifier; and sending a forwarded e-mail message comprising the one or more retrieved portions of the original e-mail message from the server to the one or more recipients.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a device for sending an e-mail message from a wireless device, the device comprising a network interface; a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor containing instructions which when executed by the processor perform: receiving a request via the network interface to forward the e-mail message to one or more recipients and a message identifier of an original e-mail message, the e-mail message having been received at the wireless device in one or more portions; determining a portion indicator for the e-mail message associated with the request; retrieving one or more portions of the original e-mail message determined by the portion indicator, of the original e-mail message identified by the message identifier; and sending a forwarded e-mail message via the network interface comprising the one or more retrieved portions of the original e-mail message from the server to the one or more recipients.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions which when executed by a processor perform: receiving a request at a server to forward the e-mail message to one or more recipients and a message identifier of an original e-mail message, the e-mail message having been received at the wireless device in one or more portions; determining a portion indicator for the e-mail message associated with the request; retrieving one or more portions of the original e-mail message determined by the portion indicator, of the original e-mail message identified by the message identifier; and sending a forwarded e-mail message comprising the one or more retrieved portions of the original e-mail message from the server to the one or more recipients.

Embodiments are described below, by way of example only, with reference to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIGS. 1-10</figref>. To conserve data resources on a wireless device when forwarding or replying to a message, as an optimization, typically the contents of the original message are not sent from the wireless device to the wireless server and/or mail server. Only the newly typed message body and a pointer or message identifier to the original message is provided to the server to execute a forwarding or reply request. When a forward or reply request from a wireless device is initiated, the server then stitches together and/or combines the new message body with the original message body (the reference ID is used to find the original message body in the mailbox) and sends the message to the identified recipients.

For example, a typical reply message can look like this:

<tables id="TABLE-US-00001" num="00001"><table frame="none" colsep="0" rowsep="0"><tgroup align="left" colsep="0" rowsep="0" cols="2"><colspec colname="offset" colwidth="63pt" align="left" /><colspec colname="1" colwidth="154pt" align="left" /><thead><row><entry /><entry namest="offset" nameend="1" align="center" rowsep="1" /></row></thead><tbody valign="top"><row><entry /><entry>Here's some reply text</entry></row><row><entry /><entry>-------------</entry></row><row><entry /><entry>From: original sender</entry></row><row><entry /><entry>To: original recipient</entry></row><row><entry /><entry>Date: some date</entry></row><row><entry /><entry>Here's the original message</entry></row><row><entry /><entry namest="offset" nameend="1" align="center" rowsep="1" /></row></tbody></tgroup></table></tables>

Nothing under the “-------------” is sent from the device to the wireless server; rather the wireless server reads the contents of the original message from an associated user mailbox based upon a unique message identifier and inserts it into the new message. The use of the message identifier in the forward/reply request conserves resources by not requiring a device to provide the original message to the mail server, which already has the original message.

However, this can create security and usability problems. For example, it's typical that a user on a wireless device either won't have received all of the message text of the original message, and therefore by implication did not read all of the original text, or did receive the text but simply did not read it. If there is sensitive text in the original message body, and the user is forwarding the message along, that sensitive text may be read by parties who should not be seeing it. In addition, if the user is replying to the message, but in the reply adds additional recipients, the additional recipients may be able to read sensitive text that the sender did not intend. As described herein, the disclosed system and method prevents users from blindly or unknowingly adding the entire contents of the original message when forwarding or replying with new recipients, This successfully alleviates a security concern that the user may unintentionally send an e-mail message in a forward along sensitive text to recipients that was not intended or aware of.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> shows a representation of sending e-mail in a forwarding or reply message from a wireless device. An e-mail message <b>100</b> is delivered to a mail server <b>120</b> (<b>1</b>) and is identified to a wireless server <b>130</b> or gateway server, each comprising or using at least a processor and a memory to execute instructions. The wireless server <b>130</b> determines the destination user and the associated wireless device <b>110</b> and forwards portions (<b>2</b>) of the original e-mail message <b>100</b>, as required or requested, to the wireless device <b>110</b>. The mail server <b>130</b> is coupled to network <b>140</b>, such as the Internet, and a wireless network <b>150</b>. The mail server <b>120</b> or wireless server <b>130</b> may be directly coupled to the wireless network <b>150</b> or one or more through intermediary networks and may not be required on the same network. The received e-mail message <b>102</b> may therefore only contain portions of the original text (as indicated by hatching of the envelopes in the figures). The user then forwards, or replies to the e-mail message (<b>3</b>) by sending a request to the wireless server <b>130</b>. The request includes a message identifier and a portion indicator to identify the amount of the original e-mail delivered or viewed on the wireless device <b>110</b>. The wireless server <b>130</b> can then retrieve the appropriate portions (<b>4</b>) from the user's mailbox on the mail server <b>120</b>. The wireless server <b>130</b> then extracts and sends the indicated portions (<b>5</b>), and any additional text added by the user, to recipients <b>112</b> and <b>114</b>, providing forwarded message <b>104</b> having only the portion(s) of the e-mail <b>102</b> requested. In this representation the wireless server <b>130</b> and mail server <b>120</b> are depicted as being separate operating entities however, their functions may be performed or integrated into the same server, they may reside as separate applications on the same device, or be incorporated into one application as required. The term server may be used to refer to the wireless server and/or the mail server.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> shows a representation of encrypted e-mail forwarding from a wireless device. An e-mail message <b>100</b>, in this cases an encrypted e-mail message is delivered to a mail server <b>120</b> (<b>1</b>) and is identified to a wireless server <b>130</b>. The e-mail message <b>100</b> may be encoded in a standard format such as Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) which is an Internet standard that extends the format of e-mail. MIME supports text in character sets other than ASCII, non-text attachments, message bodies with multiple parts, and header information in non-ASCII character sets. Alternatively the e-mail message <b>100</b> may be encrypted using a standard for public key encryption and signing such as Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) or other encryption technology. Note that in the case of S/MIME, the wireless device <b>110</b> may be required to send a key which allows the original message <b>100</b> being forwarded to be decrypted by the wireless server <b>130</b>, so that the wireless server can retrieve the attachment contents. The key may be requested on a per e-mail message or reside on the wireless server <b>130</b> and associated with the user or wireless device. The wireless server <b>130</b> determines the destination user and the associated wireless device <b>110</b> and forwards portions (<b>2</b>) of the original e-mail message <b>100</b> as required to the wireless device <b>110</b> coupled to network <b>140</b>, such as the Internet, and a wireless network <b>150</b>. The received e-mail message <b>102</b> may only contain part of the original text based upon the received portions. The user then forwards, or replies to the e-mail message (<b>3</b>) by sending a request to the wireless server <b>130</b>. The request includes a message identifier and a portion indicator to identify the amount of the original e-mail delivered and/or an indicator of viewed portions on the wireless device <b>110</b> and new recipients. The wireless server <b>130</b> can then retrieve the appropriate portions (<b>4</b>) from the user's mailbox on the mail server <b>120</b>, or a local mailbox if present on the wireless server <b>130</b>. The mail server <b>120</b>, or wireless server <b>130</b>, may also use or receive keys from a public key infrastructure (PKI) server <b>122</b> (<b>5</b>). The requested message is then provided to the wireless server <b>130</b> (<b>6</b>). The wireless server <b>130</b> then extracts and sends the indicated portions (<b>7</b>), and any additional text added by the user, to recipients <b>112</b> and <b>144</b>, providing forwarded message <b>104</b> having only the portion(s) of the e-mail <b>102</b> requested. Alternatively if the wireless server <b>130</b> cannot decrypt the message, portions may be determined relative to the encrypted message that was sent to the wireless device <b>110</b>.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> shows a representation of encrypted e-mail forwarding when attachments are associated with the e-mail. <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is similar to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> with the addition that the e-mail message contains attachments provided within the body of the message. For example the original message <b>100</b> may have included three attachments <b>101</b>, however the portions <b>102</b> sent to the wireless device <b>110</b> may only contain one attachment <b>103</b> being a subset of the original attachments <b>101</b>. The forward, or reply e-mail <b>104</b>, would therefore only contain the one attachment included <b>102</b>. In this scenario the wireless device <b>110</b> may provide the decryption keys to the wireless server <b>130</b> or mail server <b>120</b>, or they may be retrieved from a PKI server <b>122</b>, so that the attachments may be extracted and reattached to the forward or reply message <b>104</b> or stored at the server. The wireless server <b>130</b> may optionally insert text indicating that the message was truncated at the given location.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> shows a method of sending e-mail by forwarding or replying from a wireless device and a server. E-mail messages are sent from a wireless server <b>130</b> to a wireless device <b>110</b> as portions of the original message as required (<b>410</b>). The portions are provided on an as needed basis to the wireless device <b>110</b>. A request to forward the message (<b>420</b>) or reply-to the message where additional recipients are added to the message (<b>430</b>) is received from the wireless device <b>110</b> at the wireless server <b>130</b>. The portion(s) of the original e-mail message that have been either received or viewed on the wireless device is determined (<b>440</b>) either by receipt of a portion indicator from the wireless device or by the server determining which portions were sent to the wireless device. The wireless server can then retrieve the identified message and send the portions of the message, including additional text added by the user, to the identified recipients (<b>450</b>). Note that in the case that the user is replying to a message, the wireless device <b>110</b> or wireless server <b>130</b> could determine whether recipients are actually being added to the message as if no recipients are being added, then it can be assumed that the original sender has already seen all of the text and there is no need to restrict sending the original message.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref> shows a method of e-mail forwarding from a wireless device. The wireless device receives one or more portions of the e-mail message (<b>510</b>) from the wireless server in a e-mail application of web-based mail application executed on a processor of the wireless device. The user requests that an message be forwarded or replied-to, with added recipients (<b>520</b>). In this example, a portion indicator is determined by the wireless device to identify the amount of the original e-mail received from the server (<b>530</b>). The portion indicator may be the size or a count of the number of portions received. Alternatively, the portion indicator may be additionally be determined based upon the amount of message text or content actually viewed or displayed on the device to the user prior to initiating the forward or reply request by determining a viewing metric for example, has the user viewed the text for a certain period of time, has the user scrolled by the text, etc. If the text has only been briefly viewed, the text may not be forwarded or a warning displaying the associated metric may be provided before sending. The e-mail forwarding request, is then sent to the server (<b>540</b>) including the added text from the user (if any), a message identifier, and the portion indicator. The server only includes the text from the original message that the device identified by the portion indicator. Alternatively, if the device does not provide a portion indicator to the server, the server may determine the portion of e-mail that was provided to the wireless device and only forward the downloaded portions.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> shows a method at a wireless server of e-mail forwarding from a wireless device. The wireless server receives a request to forward, or reply with new recipients from the wireless device <b>110</b> (<b>610</b>). The request includes the message identifier of the original message and may include a portion indicator if provided by the wireless device <b>110</b>. The wireless server <b>130</b> can then retrieve the original message from a mailbox associated with the user (<b>620</b>) either locally or via a mail server <b>120</b>. If the portion indicator is not provided by the wireless device <b>110</b> it may be determined by the server based upon the portions of the original e-mail message that were sent to the wireless device <b>110</b> as discussed in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>. The portion(s) of the e-mail message identified by the portion indicator is then extracted from the original e-mail message (<b>630</b>) and sent to the identified recipients (<b>640</b>) with the added text from the user. If the e-mail message is encrypted the server may request or retrieve decryption keys to extract attachments within the message for inclusion to the forwarded message. Only attachments that fall within the portions indicator of the message will be forwarded.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> shows a method at a wireless server of e-mail forwarding from a wireless device where the wireless server determines the portion of the e-mail message to be forwarded. The wireless server <b>130</b> receives a request to forward, or reply with new recipients from the wireless device <b>110</b> (<b>710</b>). The request includes the message identifier associated with the original e-mail in the user's mailbox on the mail server <b>120</b>. The wireless server <b>130</b> then determines the one or more portions of the original e-mail that have been previous delivered to the wireless device <b>110</b> (<b>720</b>). The wireless server <b>130</b> can then retrieve the original message from a mailbox associated with the user (<b>730</b>) either coupled to the server or through an associated mail server. The portion(s) of the original e-mail message determined by the wireless server <b>130</b> as being sent to the wireless device <b>110</b> are then extracted from the original e-mail message (<b>740</b>) and sent to the identified recipients (<b>750</b>) with the added text from the user. If the e-mail message contains attachments within the message, an encryption key may be provided to the wireless server <b>130</b> or authorized for retrieval by the user, so that the server can extract the attachments for inclusion to the forwarded message. Only attachments that fall within the portions indicator of the message will be forwarded.

Forwarding/replying e-mail based upon a portion indicator may be applied to all e-mail or selectively enabled on the wireless device. Alternatively, the method may be implemented based on the type of e-mail or content contained therein. For example, the portion indicator may be applied to encrypted e-mail, any e-mail with a particular security or sensitive categorization, provided within the MIME encoding or within the message in the subject line or body. The indicator may also be applied based upon destinations or domains associated with the e-mail recipients. In determining if only portions of the e-mail is to be forwarded the server may determine properties associated with recipients before determining the portion indicator, that is if the recipients are within a trusted domain, or if particular recipients are deemed trusted the entire e-mail message may be forwarded without requiring determination of the portion indicator.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 8</figref> shows a representation of a confirmation screen when sending an e-mail in a forward or reply message from a wireless device. In this example wireless device <b>110</b> has a screen <b>802</b> that is displaying a message that a user is in the process of forwarding to a new recipient. When the user initiates a send, for example by actuating a send icon <b>804</b>, a notification <b>806</b> may be provided to indicate that not all portions of the e-mail has been received, and therefore not been viewed and will not be included in the forwarded e-mail. In the case of a reply to an e-mail, the notification would only be presented if additional recipients are being added to the e-mail message as it would be assumed that it is acceptable for the original sender to receive the full message.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref> is a block diagram of a wireless device for replying/forwarding of e-mail, in particular a wireless device <b>110</b> is shown incorporating a communication subsystem having both a receiver <b>912</b> and a transmitter <b>914</b> as well as associated components such as one or more embedded or internal antenna elements <b>916</b> and <b>918</b>. The device may be a portable communication device such as a tablet, smart phone, mobile computing device, netbook, laptop computer, notebook computer capable of providing or accessing e-mail applications or e-mail functionality. The particular design of the communication subsystem will be dependent upon the communication network in which the device is intended to operate. The network may be short-range, local area network, or a wide area network accessible by different access technology or standards, such as but not limited to WiFi, IEEE 802.11 based technologies, GSM, CDMA, HSPDA, LTE, Wi-Max or by accessing a network connection via an intermediary device such as by tethering or bridging functionality.

When required network registration or activation procedures have been completed, wireless device <b>110</b> may send and receive communication signals over a wireless network <b>980</b>. Signals received by antenna <b>916</b> are input to receiver <b>912</b>, which may perform such common receiver functions as signal amplification, frequency down conversion, channel selection and the like. Radio processor <b>911</b> interacts with receiver <b>912</b> and transmitter <b>914</b>, and further with flash memory <b>962</b>, random access memory (RAM) <b>960</b>, the subscriber identity module <b>964</b>, a headset <b>968</b>, a speaker <b>970</b>, and a microphone <b>972</b>.

Microprocessor <b>938</b> interacts with further device subsystems such as the display <b>802</b>, flash memory <b>940</b>, random access memory (RAM) <b>936</b>, auxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystems <b>928</b>, serial port <b>930</b>, keyboard <b>932</b>, input devices such as a touch screen or touch input device <b>934</b>, other communications <b>942</b> and other device subsystems generally designated as <b>944</b>.

Some of the subsystems shown in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 9</figref> perform communication-related functions, whereas other subsystems may provide “resident” or on-device functions. Notably, some subsystems, such as keyboard <b>932</b> and display <b>922</b>, for example, may be used for both communication-related functions, such as entering a text message for transmission over a communication network, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or task list. Additionally certain components may be combined, for example, the keyboard <b>932</b> and the display <b>922</b> may be combined as a single component such as a touch screen.

Software used by radio processor <b>911</b> and microprocessor <b>938</b> is stored in a persistent store such as flash memory <b>940</b> and <b>962</b>, which may instead be a read-only memory (ROM) or similar storage element (not shown). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the operating system, specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into a volatile memory such as RAM <b>936</b> and RAM <b>960</b>. Received communication signals may also be stored in RAM <b>936</b>.

As shown, flash memory <b>940</b> can be segregated into different areas for computer programs <b>946</b>, device state <b>948</b>, address book <b>950</b>, other applications <b>952</b> and e-mail programs <b>954</b>. The e-mail programs <b>954</b> may also manage encryption and decryption key management or may be managed by a separate, program, service or application. These different storage types indicate that each program can allocate a portion of flash memory <b>940</b> for their own data storage requirements. Microprocessor <b>938</b>, in addition to its operating system functions, preferably enables execution of software applications on the wireless device

For voice communications, overall operation of wireless device <b>110</b> is similar, except that received signals would preferably be output to the speaker <b>970</b> or headset <b>968</b> and signals for transmission would be generated by the microphone <b>972</b>. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on wireless device <b>110</b>.

Other device subsystems <b>944</b>, such as a short-range communications subsystem, is a further optional component which may provide for communication between wireless device <b>110</b> and different systems or devices, which need not necessarily be similar devices. For example, the subsystem <b>944</b> may include an infrared device and associated circuits and components or a Bluetooth™ communication module to provide for communication with similarly enabled systems and devices.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 10</figref> show a schematic representation of a wireless server. The server <b>130</b> has at least a processor <b>1002</b> for processing instructions retrieved from internal memory <b>1008</b> or external storage device <b>1020</b> through a data input/output interface <b>1012</b>. The processor <b>1002</b> interfaces via a network interface <b>1004</b> with one or more networks <b>140</b> for sending and receiving e-mail messages to and from the wireless devices. The network interface may be a wired interface, such as Ethernet or a wireless interface or utilize a combination thereof. A user input/output interface <b>1006</b> may be provided to enable programming or interaction with the server may also be provided. The memory <b>1008</b> or storage device <b>1020</b> may contain instructions for managing e-mail delivery to wireless devices, portion tracking and logic for determining e-mail portions to be forwarded as defined by the described methods. Mail server <b>120</b> functions may also be incorporated in the wireless <b>130</b> such as mailbox processing and management.

The system and methods according to the present disclosure may be implemented by any hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software having the above described functions. The software code, either in its entirety or a part thereof, may be stored in a computer-readable memory or non-transitory computer readable medium. Further, a computer data program representing the software code may be embodied on a computer-readable memory.

While a particular embodiment of the present system and methods for forwarding e-mail message attachments from a wireless device have been described herein, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the disclosure in its broadest aspects and as set forth in the following claims.